For Paul
I can see you through the bonfire, with us.
A fifth of Old Crow circling the dark.
Where did that whole life go? In Texas
the chemo inches toward your heart,
things always dwindling to just the two of us,
a crumpled cigarette, a distant car:
our voices, at dawn, so clearly posthumous.
Woodsmoke rising to the ashy stars.
A fifth of Old Crow circling the dark.
Where did that whole life go? In Texas
the chemo inches toward your heart,
things always dwindling to just the two of us,
a crumpled cigarette, a distant car:
our voices, at dawn, so clearly posthumous.
Woodsmoke rising to the ashy stars.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Patrick Phillips, "For Paul," from the American Poetry Review, (Vol. 47, no. 6, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Patrick Phillips and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.